A toast to craftsmanship

The impressions that visitors take home are as diverse as the craft itself. In front of the Klosterbräu Hotel, one can watch exhibitor Veronika Dill as she creates delicate monastery works and artistically decorated hairpins. Next to her, Ulrike Gruber is handcrafting paper that is special due to the added flower petals from meadow flowers.

At the farmer's market in the village square, there are countless handmade goods as well as many culinary delights for sale. From homemade venison sausages to cheese and authentic Vinschgauer Vinschgerl, to Ferdinand Schot's honey produced by his bee colonies in Seefeld and Möser in the summer.

Behind the church, young visitors can discover black-nosed sheep, goats, and miniature horses that enjoy some petting, or they can try their hand at traditional crafts. When hand-removing the kernels from the corn, they quickly realize how exhausting it can be to produce the food that they usually only know from the supermarket shelves.

This year, the Seefeld metalworkers also focused on food. Last year, Wolfgang Unterwurzacher, Manuel Neuner, Martin Thaler, and Daniel Reinpold forged a bar set. This year, it was time for the matching grill. "For over 20 years, we have created a special project at the festival every year," says Unterwurzacher, who, like his colleagues, has been part of the festival since the first one over 20 years ago; back then as an apprentice with their common boss Gerhard Neuner. While in recent years, the metalworkers have often produced items for the community, such as the village fountain or the decoration in the roundabout, in 2022 and 2023, they thought a bit about their own well-being with the bar and grill. In the end, however, they also grilled for the other exhibitors of the craft festival, with whom they have been friends for years. "It’s always a blast to meet here," says Unterwurzacher. And thanks to perfect weather, it turned out to be a delightful closing evening at the self-forged bar.

Of course, the two midday highlights, the tractor parade on Saturday and the traditional costume procession on Sunday, were also a special sight. Decorated in an artistic manner, over 100 years of tractor history chugged through the pedestrian zone, delighting not only the children with many "ohs and ahs." The traditional costume procession was especially enjoyable for folk music and costume fans. Around 800 participants from North and South Tyrol showcased their festive costumes to lively marching music. Following this, everyone danced in the pedestrian zone to folk dances and other traditional songs.

This year's craft festival on September 9 and 10 was once again one of the largest events on Tyrol's high plateau, showcasing that the pedestrian zone of Seefeld is one of the most popular village centers in Tyrol. Visitors and exhibitors called it the "most beautiful craft market around."

Thanks to our partner Invenium Data Insights, we can now support these subjective impressions with numbers. Almost 20,000 people visited the craft festival, of which about a quarter were international guests; three-quarters came from Austria. The main influx came from the region and neighboring areas, demonstrating how much the locals appreciate this traditional event. We are particularly pleased with the duration of stay of the visitors: on average, they took three hours to explore and enjoy the market. There is hardly a greater compliment for our vendors and musicians.

Furthermore, the numbers impressively show what one could also experience live on site: traditional craftsmanship is still highly valued by all age groups and genders, connecting people across all boundaries. The future of the craft festival is secured, and we hope, so is the future of craftsmanship itself. The Seefeld region is already looking forward to making its contribution again on September 7 and 8, 2024.